Page 27 of Dangerous Exile

Shit.He hadn’t just killed him?

The man twitched.

Not dead. Small favor.

“You know he’s Baron Jaccard’s youngest brother?” Declan’s furious whisper rang in his ear. “What are you thinking, Tal?”

Talen nodded, his glare still pinned on the motionless man by his feet. He didn’t care whose damned brother he was. He’d had his hands on Ness. About to hit her. He deserved so much more than what Talen had just done to him.

“Talen.” Ness’s voice squeaked out and his glare shifted to her.

What in thedeuced devilwas she doing out of her room?

All the red rage reflooded his vision.

Talen yanked his left arm from Declan’s grasp and moved to her, grabbing her about the waist and picking her up, carrying her over the other inert body on the hallway floor and into her room. He threw her onto the bed.

“Why in the almighty hell were you out of your room, Ness?” His hands went onto his own hipbones, his fingers gripping hard so that he wouldn’t reach out and shake her. “Tell me they dragged you out there. Tell me you weren’t out there on your own accord.”

Her eyes wide and panicked, she looked up at him, then shifted her gaze to the doorway where Declan stood.

“No.” He reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look back to him. “Don’t look at Dec. He’s not going to save you. Tell me what you were doing.”

Her fingers grabbed his wrist, pushing his hold off of her face. “I—I was—I was getting ice. Ice for my forehead.” She pointed to the lump on the middle of her head.

“Ice?” His caustic chuckle cut into the room. “Ice? You needed ice? Where did you think you were going to get ice?”

“The kitchens. They had ice—I just wanted the swelling to go down so I thought I could use the servants’ stairs—”

“You thought that traipsing all over the Alabaster was a fine idea?” His arm lurched up at his side. “What did I tell you? In this room. In my office. Nowhere else.” He leaned over her, his words vicious. “What did I bloody well tell you?”

Her head bowed, her right fingers twisting in her muslin skirt on her lap as her voice came out small. “Stay in the room.”

“Stay in the damn room.” His arm swinging wide, he spun from her, his voice thundering. “You couldn’t have gone down there without being seen. Now more people know about you. That was what was keeping you safe, Ness. No one knew you were here. No matter how long your husband’s tentacles are, he couldn’t reach you where he couldn’t find you.”

He whipped back around to her. “How many people saw you on the way to the kitchens?”

She glanced up at him, her shoulders lifting. “Just three, maybe four.”

“Three, four? How many? What did they look like?”

She cringed, her eyes closing. “Two footmen, one had light blond hair, one had sandy blond hair. Both were lanky, but shorter than you. Two helpers in the kitchen, they were young—girls—one was peeling potatoes and the other was scaling fish. They pointed me towardthe ice house.That was all. That was all, I swear. Except for the other girl in the kitchen—she was doing something on the floor, I don’t know what, cleaning, maybe.”

“Bloody hell—five?”

She cringed, nodding.

His glare didn’t shift from her. “Declan.”

“I’m on it.” Declan left the room, closing the door behind him.

“What?” Ness jumped in place on the bed, looking ready to run out with Declan. “Where is he going?”

“To clean up the mess you just made. The mess I just made.” He turned from her, his fist punching hard into the wall. Not that it mattered, his knuckles were already split. “Ice. Bloody damned ice.”

He stepped away from the wall, his arms clamping across his chest as he moved in front of her once more. “Why in the hell didn’t you just ask?”

She pointed toward the door, fear in her eyes. “But Declan—where is he going? He’s not going to hurt them? The footmen, the girls?”